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by Paul ArmentanoSenior Policy AnalystNORML | NORML Foundation

“Cannabinoids possess … anticancer activity [and may] possibly represent a new class of anti-cancer drugs that retard cancer growth, inhibit angiogenesis (the formation of new blood vessels) and the metastatic spreading of cancer cells." So concludes a comprehensive review published in the October 2005 issue of the scientific journal Mini-Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry.

Not familiar with the emerging body of research touting cannabis' ability to stave the spread of certain types of cancers? You're not alone.

For over 30 years, US politicians and bureaucrats have systematically turned a blind eye to scientific research indicating that marijuana may play a role in cancer prevention -- a finding that was first documented in 1974. That year, a research team at the Medical College of Virginia (acting at the behest of the federal government) discovered that cannabis inhibited malignant tumor cell growth in culture and in mice. According to the study's results, reported nationally in an Aug. 18, 1974, Washington Post newspaper feature, administration of marijuana's primary cannabinoid THC, "slowed the growth of lung cancers, breast cancers and a virus-induced leukemia in laboratory mice, and prolonged their lives by as much as 36 percent."

Despite these favorable preclinical findings, US government officials dismissed the study (which was eventually published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in 1975), and refused to fund any follow-up research until conducting a similar –- though secret –- clinical trial in the mid-1990s. That study, conducted by the US National Toxicology Program to the tune of $2 million concluded that mice and rats administered high doses of THC over long periods experienced greater protection against malignant tumors than untreated controls.

Rather than publicize their findings, government researchers once again shelved the results, which only came to light after a draft copy of its findings were leaked in 1997 to a medical journal, which in turn forwarded the story to the national media.

Nevertheless, in the decade since the completion of the National Toxicology trial, the U.S. government has yet to encourage or fund additional, follow up studies examining the cannabinoids' potential to protect against the spread cancerous tumors.

Fortunately, scientists overseas have generously picked up where US researchers so abruptly left off. In 1998, a research team at Madrid's Complutense University discovered that THC can selectively induce apoptosis (program cell death) in brain tumor cells without negatively impacting the surrounding healthy cells. Then in 2000, they reported in the journal Nature Medicine that injections of synthetic THC eradicated malignant gliomas (brain tumors) in one-third of treated rats, and prolonged life in another third by six weeks.

In 2003, researchers at the University of Milan in Naples, Italy, reported that non-psychoactive compounds in marijuana inhibited the growth of glioma cells in a dose dependent manner and selectively targeted and killed malignant cancer cells.

The following year, researchers reported in the journal of the American Association for Cancer Research that marijuana's constituents inhibited the spread of brain cancer in human tumor biopsies. In a related development, a research team from the University of South Florida further noted that THC can also selectively inhibit the activation and replication of gamma herpes viruses. The viruses, which can lie dormant for years within white blood cells before becoming active and spreading to other cells, are thought to increase one's chances of developing cancers such as Karposis Sarcoma, Burkitts lymphoma, and Hodgkins disease.

More recently, investigators published pre-clinical findings demonstrating that cannabinoids may play a role in inhibiting cell growth of colectoral cancer, skin carcinoma, breast cancer, and prostate cancer, among other conditions. When investigators compared the efficacy of natural cannabinoids to that of a synthetic agonist, THC proved far more beneficial – selectively decreasing the proliferation of malignant cells and inducing apoptosis more rapidly than its synthetic alternative while simultaneously leaving healthy cells unscathed.

Nevertheless, US politicians have been little swayed by these results, and remain steadfastly opposed to the notion of sponsoring – or even acknowledging – this growing body clinical research, preferring instead to promote the unfounded notion that cannabis use causes cancer. Until this bias changes, expect the bulk of research investigating the use of cannabinoids as anticancer agents to remain overseas and, regrettably, overlooked in the public discourse.

"George Bush says he speaks to god every day, and christians love him for it. If George Bush said he spoke to god through his hair dryer, they would think he was mad. I fail to see how the addition of a hair dryer makes it any more absurd."

Tairaa wrote:As for medical risks, marijuana is less damaging then cigarettes and alcohol, and it's less mentally distorting then alcohol is. But yes, of course it's not healthy. It's not like your body benefits from it's use.

Speaking purely from personal experience, I would take being hammered over being high any day. When I first tried smoking pot and got high it was the first time I was genuinely scared of anything. I couldn't feel my legs, people were talking to me and I couldn't hear them, my head was spinning constantly and then I blacked out till the next morning.

No, it wasn't laced. It was weed that I helped my buddy grow from day 1. It's just that weed and me don't mix, and I know a couple other people who've gotten "The Fear" from it too, while they've been perfectly normal while drunk.

i also would rather get hammered than use dope....dope can cause depression,numbness,slow behaviour and cancer...my mate smokes it,he is off his head now and again..he really is ok without it...but when he s high he dribbles hsit ,is lazy ect ect

chiselray wrote:i also would rather get hammered than use dope....dope can cause depression,numbness,slow behaviour and cancer...my mate smokes it,he is off his head now and again..he really is ok without it...but when he s high he dribbles hsit ,is lazy ect ect

Lol, well booze does all that too bro.

But I get what you're shootin' for.

War is an extension of economics and diplomacy through other means.

Economics and diplomacy are methods of securing resources used by humans.

Securing resources is the one necessary behavior for all living things.

It's illegalilty is irrational. Less harmful then both cigarettes and alcohol.

Actually Chisel we have been thus far unable to find proof that marijuana can cause cancer.

Now, rolling papers however...

"George Bush says he speaks to god every day, and christians love him for it. If George Bush said he spoke to god through his hair dryer, they would think he was mad. I fail to see how the addition of a hair dryer makes it any more absurd."

i also would rather get hammered than use dope....dope can cause depression,numbness,slow behaviour and cancer...my mate smokes it,he is off his head now and again..he really is ok without it...but when he s high he dribbles hsit ,is lazy ect ect

Do you have links to the studies that show this? I'd be interested in reading them. I'm especially interested in the claim about depression.

I have read about direct links between alcohol and diseases. Don't get me wrong, I still drink. But, I also know what diseases I can get from making that choice. My old roommate was a pathologist and would get drunk and tell me which organs alcohol affected and the diseases it creates. It all goes back to choice. I believe the facts should be readily available to all so that each individual can make what ever choice they choose.

Waiting for your links to back your claims. Thanks in advance.

Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen... - Zbigniew Brezhinsky

chiselray wrote:i also would rather get hammered than use dope....dope can cause depression,numbness,slow behaviour and cancer...my mate smokes it,he is off his head now and again..he really is ok without it...but when he s high he dribbles hsit ,is lazy ect ect

Lol, well booze does all that too bro.

But I get what you're shootin' for.

Booze is ok in moderation,im not sure about dope as its effects may last longer once taken..

i also would rather get hammered than use dope....dope can cause depression,numbness,slow behaviour and cancer...my mate smokes it,he is off his head now and again..he really is ok without it...but when he s high he dribbles hsit ,is lazy ect ect

Do you have links to the studies that show this? I'd be interested in reading them. I'm especially interested in the claim about depression.

I have read about direct links between alcohol and diseases. Don't get me wrong, I still drink. But, I also know what diseases I can get from making that choice. My old roommate was a pathologist and would get drunk and tell me which organs alcohol affected and the diseases it creates. It all goes back to choice. I believe the facts should be readily available to all so that each individual can make what ever choice they choose.

Waiting for your links to back your claims. Thanks in advance.

Papers /studies ? is that all you believe in though ?What about the next paper claiming against your now postion,what will you believe then ?Do you believe what you see ,or what a study or claim from a stranger tells you ?I certainly dont always,but what i get is suicide is common amongst dope users.And definately probably cancer too...fact is alcoholics die from alcohol,but no one dies from pot directly related to its consumption,but indirectly from its relationship to and from that good feeling in susceptible people ,well, it can and does lead to suicide going off personal experience in this area..

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